The present invention relates to an insect attractant and, in particular, to an insect attractant for houseflies, mosquitoes or wasps, which can be used to lure the insects to traps or other devices for the purpose of controlling such pests.
Insect attractants have been identified from food, from hosts or host plants of the insects themselves, from other insects (e.g. pheromones which are used in intraspecies chemical communication), and from the random screening of chemical compounds. Certain plants, including tropical pitcher plants (Nepenthes species), trumpet pitcher plants (Sarraceniaceae) and others capture insects and other animals which they are able to digest. The evidence which is summarised in Juniper,B. E., Robins,R. J., & Joel,D. M.(1989) The Carnivorous Plants, Academic Press suggests that the insects are attracted by visual stimuli (color patterns and reflected ultra violet light), and at close range are enticed to feed by the presence of viscous nectar secretions.
The volatile components in Sarracenia flava have been analysed by GC-MS analysis and the results are given in Phytochemistry, 1975, Vol.14, pp.845-846.